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Silence And Distance Contrast From Usual Bustle Of Florida Legislative Committee Weeks

The inside of the Florida Senate Chamber
Florida Memory

State legislators were back at the Capitol this week for substantive work for the first time since the pandemic began last March. The medical emergency has transformed the seat of state government.

It's not the same Capitol. It's deserted, for one thing. The Capitol is often so quiet that the only sound is one of the new elevators announcing its destination, or an electric drill building a new wall on the fifth floor.

Lobbyists were nowhere to be found. In a Capitol where influence is often on full display, that's the biggest change of all.

"It's certainly a new day," said Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale. "In the era that we're in, it's just what we have to do. With some of these remote appointments with lobbyists, it's more difficult to understand their side of the issues. This is the new reality."

Thurston said it's not easy arranging Zoom calls with lobbyists instead of face-to-face meetings.

Committees met in mostly empty rooms and members of the public who wanted to testify were piped in from a few blocks away at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center. The Senate and House separately manage their own areas. The Senate blocked off public access to most hallways, and the House keeps its hallways open. Rep. Evan Jenne says having two sets of rules makes no sense.

"It's just more of the same stupidity that we've seen out of Tallahassee, dealing with COVID," Jenne said, "except now, their own members are putting themselves in danger because of their own stupidity. It's kind of sad to watch."

In a Senate Transportation Committee meeting, three Republicans -- George Gainer, Keith Perry and Tom Wright -- did not wear masks, in a hearing room where signs tell everyone to wear them.

Steve Bousquet has covered state government and politics for three decades at the Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald. He was the Times' Tallahassee bureau chief from 2005 to 2018 and has also covered city and county politics in Broward County. He has a master's degree in U.S. history from Florida State.